Thursday, September 15, 2016

YBC 39 Day Yoga Progress Project + BuJo Spread

At a biergarten in the Englischer Gartens in
Munich! 
      The start of our second week in Munich marks the start of my husband going to work daily, instead of hanging out and exploring with me. I could whine about it, but it was my choice not to jump into work right when we got here. While I am hopeful to work in the coming months, I'm currently available to do all the "adulting" and make sure we get our paperwork in order while my husband can focus on starting a new job and figuring out what his role is there. It is nice to have some extra time to figure out what the heck an Einwohnermeldeamt is and where I find one, since that is where I have to register our address and receive an Anmeldebestätigung to prove we are allowed to live here. Those are some ridiculously intimidating words. Are American words for similar identification routines as intimidating? Driver's License? Identification card? DMV? Well, that last one can be intimidating but only because of the implied waiting foreverrrrr. Adulting is hard.


      As I Google Translate webpage after webpage (including the webpage to sign up for German classes...I should probably take those?), it occurs to me that I have zero commitments at the moment. This can be a bit demotivating/frightening/difficult for me. I'm used to quite a hectic schedule. I recently read an article that talks about how being busy is becoming a new status symbol, and while I can identify with that post, I can also appreciate my lack of busy-ness right now as something that will probably never happen again in my life. Regardless, without anything at all to do I'll just sit around, watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and drink coffee. Do I need the coffee even if I'm not busy? Obviously, yes, because coffee. However, I'm really out of my element with this whole empty schedule routine.

My BuJo spread for keeping track of the Project. I left some space in the notes section to record particular videos or
poses that I want to remember later on, because I'm sure I'll forget them. 
      Enter: the 39 Day Yoga Progress Project for Flexibility from Yoga By Candace. She is one of my favorites, both as a yoga instructor and an entrepreneur who's really killing this whole "Girl Boss" thing in life. I have been telling myself for months that I would really benefit from doing yoga every day. I just never got in the habit of it. Tasks and errands came up, there were so many "lasts" that couldn't be put off, and so many trips to take to see people before we moved. I could tell myself I didn't need to do yoga if I'd already worked out, but going running was difficult this summer because a) it was ridiculously hot and b) my body is pretty stiff, still, from an ankle injury I suffered in April. This project will be a good way to loosen up my muscles, give me something productive to do, and focus my energy in a positive way as we go through the rough parts of transitioning after a BIG move.


     Candace has a sample program all laid out on her website. It's easy to follow, and the multitudinous library of yoga videos on her YouTube channel makes it easy to switch up the routine every day. I'm combining the program with my slight obsession with Bullet Journaling, and I've made a spread to keep track of my progress and the program. The less I have to go online, check what I'm supposed to do, and then probably get distracted by something else online, the more accountable I will be to this program! I borrowed Candace's suggested program but just put a time limit, so I can choose a video of that length to do, that suits my mood, each day. I also hope that my running will benefit from this progress journey as well, so I've included spaces in my layout to record my mile time at the same time as the yoga pose check ins. I've included a picture to give a close up for the boxes on the right. My favorite part is the quote, which I stole from Candace's project page. It's a [bad] pun, which I looooove!

      I've chosen Dancer's Pose as my focus, and you can see my *sarcasm* magnificent form in the "before" picture below. I didn't realize how ridiculous I looked until I took it, and I'm totally embarrassing myself by posting it, but progress is a journey and every journey has a starting point. I've definitely got a ways to go. But in the name of keeping a commitment, finding productive uses of my time, and keeping my sanity, I'm determined to make some progress. So, here I go! Follow the Growing Polymathic Instagram to see progress along the way, and the final result!

Embarrassingly bad before shots. Here's hoping for a LOT of progress!